Inkjet and spray jet printing using dye-based inks is one method of manufacturing printed porous substrates such as textiles. Printed dyes may be “fixed” with dye mordants to improve waterfastness. Inkjet printing is well-suited for, among other things, short printing run and high resolution applications.
Pigment-based inks are commonly applied to porous substrates such as textiles by screen-printing methods, and are typically more durable than dye-based inks. In order to retain the pigment on the textile, a binder resin is employed to provide a means for anchoring the pigment to the textile. Screen-printing inks have viscosities that far exceed the maximum viscosities that may be successfully printed by inkjet methods. Additionally, the binder resins used in screen inks generally lend a stiffer (i.e., aesthetically undesirable) hand to the textile than if the same textile had been dyed. Screen printing is not a technology well-suited to short run printing in that a considerable effort is required to change screens and/or ink colors.
Dye-based inks generally suffer from poor stability compared to pigment-based inks, especially when lightfastness and waterfastness are considered.
There exists a need to provide durable lightfast and waterfast articles that combine the advantages of lightfastness, waterfastness, soft hand, and high resolution.